A digest. One to three times a week.

Statue Storm!

“Oh SHIT!” I thought, as I lay in bed last night. “I’ve forgotten! What was the consequence of the ‘Letters from the Segovia Woods,’ written by Philip II of Spain to Margaret of Parma in 1565-66, wherein Philip rejected requests to abolish the laws against heresy in the Spanish Netherlands?!”

It’s a wonder I got to sleep at all, but I did. All night I was haunted, however, by dreams of Dutch Calvinists smashing Catholic art. My dreams looked like this:

When I woke up, it was with a smile.

“Of course,” I remembered. “The Letters from the Segovia Woods led to the ‘Beeldenstorm’ – the ‘statue storm’ – wherein angry Dutch Protestants destroyed Catholic iconography. Then the Duke of Alba shows up to repress the uprising, etc. etc., the 80 Years War is ON.”